How Many More Strikes Does Ashcroft Get?
By ELAINE CASSEL John Ashcroft must be tearing out his primly coiffed hair about now. On July 21, Federal District Judge John G. Koeltl (Southern District of New York) dismissed the terrorist charges against New York attorney Lynne Stewart. In a 77-page opinion, Judge Koeltl agreed with famed civil rights attorney Michael Tigar’s argument that the anti-terrorist act under which she was charged was overly vague as applied to attorney speech and conduct related to client representation. Stewart had been charged with aiding and abetting the terrorist activities of Sheikh Abdel Rahman, whom she, as court-appointed attorney, defended in connection with the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center. After visiting her client in prison, Stewart answered a press question about Rahman’s support of a cease-fire of then ongoing terrorist activities, including the bombings of U.S. embassies. She said that he did not support a cease-fire. That statement was the basis of one of the charges that could
